If you’re new to mindfulness, you might be curious about why it’s helpful to include mindfulness into your daily routines. Let’s briefly explore just a few of the scientifically-proven benefits of practicing mindfulness.
Less Stress
A recent study from Carnegie Mellon University demonstrates how mindfulness meditation can improve people’s ability to be resilient under stress and may reduce cortisol levels, a hormone released in the body in response to stress. On a broader scale, researchers at Johns Hopkins University analyzed nearly 19,000 meditation studies and determined that mindfulness meditation can help ease psychological stresses like anxiety, depression, and pain.
Emotional Resilience
Well-being is a skill that can be learned through meditation. World-renowned neuroscientist Richie Davidson at the Center of Investigating Healthy Minds is researching how small amounts of practice, even as little as an hour and a half, can result in measurable changes in the brain. Indeed, a recent study from Davidson’s lab suggests compassion meditation can increase generous behaviour and increase altruistic towards others.
Better Sex
Mindfulness training can improve your sex life because “you’re more empowered when you know what’s happening in your body and mind,” says Dr. Marsha Lucas, author of Rewire Your Brain for Love. A study by Brown University found that mindfulness was especially helpful to women because it helps in getting self-judgment out of the way. “Nonjudgment helps in communication with your partner,” says study author Gina Silverstein, “in part because it enables you to say what turns you on.”
Better Health—Physically and Mentally
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) effectively lowers blood pressure for patients with borderline high blood pressure or “prehypertension,” according to new research. Furthermore, certain kinds of meditation practice can modulate inflammatory systems for sufferers of chronic pain.
Mindfulness is one of the fastest-developing areas in mental health. Recent studies into Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) suggest the practice can reduce depression and relapse. Other studies have shown that mindfulness is effective for preventing anxiety and mood disorders and may be good for other psychiatric conditions including bipolar disorder.
Improves the Aging Brain
Brain-training games, whose claims to cognitive improvement remain unsubstantiated by the scientific community, are not as effective as mindful practice. One 2013 study found that older adults who went through an eight-week MBSR program improved their executive functioning by 12% while the control group got worse. Additionally, research is currently underway looking at how mindfulness might slow cellular aging.
